iphone locked

my friend has an iphone that he just bought off another guy. he wanted to get rid of all the pics, contacts etc. on the phone. so he says he went into settings and hit a 'clear' button or something similar and the phone said it would take 30mins to do this. after 30 mins he checked the phone now it will only let him make emg. calls and has a little padlock at the top of the screen. he is clueless about this sort of thing so i said i would take it off him over the weekend and try and fix it (i havent seen it yet). i dont have an iphone myself but does anyone know what he has done or how i can fix it for him? cheers

i just spoke to him again apparently there is a pic on the screen under the padlock showing that the phone needs to be connected to itunes? if this dosent make sense ill leave it until i have the phone myself and i can see whats going on with it. thanks

i just spoke to him again apparently there is a pic on the screen under the padlock showing that the phone needs to be connected to itunes? if this dosent make sense ill leave it until i have the phone myself and i can see whats going on with it. thanks

Okay yeah, that sounds like it's not yet been activated.

iPhone's are sold with a subsidy, which means you get the phone cheaper because you're paying for a contract or pay-as-you-go card with a data plan attached.

Other sims will only work on unlocked phones, but they carry a much higher price tag usually (and aren't available in all countries. Italy, france and the czech republic have them for instance).